


Keychain

by Tearsaresalty



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-05-04 22:17:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14602893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tearsaresalty/pseuds/Tearsaresalty
Summary: "Here."His hand was open in front of Daiki. There was a keychain with a basketball and a basketball shoe hanging from it. Daiki blinked at it, then at Taiga. "Huh?""Take it," Taiga urged, "It's for you. A memento. To, you know, remember me sometimes."As if Daiki would ever forget him.(Or: The one they meet during their childhood, part, then meet again in the future)





	1. A Fading Memory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, for one thing, I can't believe I'm posting AoKa again. I hope y'all enjoy, happy ahobaka day ^-^

_"You play too?"_

_The ball bounced on the ground, then back in his hands where it stopped. Blue eyes gazed deeply into a pair of red which regarded him with unmasked, youthful enthusiasm. It was the new neighbor's kid; a boy around Daiki's age and height, with red spiky hair and eyes shining like rubies. His eyebrows split at the ends. He was dancing on his feet, hands behind his back as he waited for Daiki's reply._

_Daiki nodded. "I play," he said, "Can you keep up?"_

_The boy's face lit up, fire in his eyes burning bright. He clenched his fist and gritted, "You bet."_

_A good response. Good energy. Good spirit. Daiki's mouth stretched all the way to his eyes. The ball slipped from his grip to bounce on the ground, his knees bending as he cowered in his stance. He began dribbling._

_"We'll see about that."_

 

~ * ~

 

_"What's your name?"_

_They were laying next to each other and staring at the stars gleaming above them, muscles screaming after hours and hours of overuse, chests moving uncontrollably fast, pausing to swallow before running after their breaths again. It hurt, everything hurt like a bastard and he was thirsty, so thirsty but Daiki had never felt more alive before in his short life._

_He turned his head and their eyes met, blue on red, and there was silence until the boy said, "Taiga. And you?"_

_"Daiki."_

_Taiga flashed a big, real smile. "Daiki," he echoed, as if testing it on his tongue. Then he chuckled. "You're seriously amazing, Daiki."_

_Daiki didn't agree; Taiga was the amazing one._

_But he kept it to himself._

 

~ * ~

 

_Satsuki was pouting at him and she was pouting because Dai-chan wasn't playing much with her anymore; because Dai-chan played only with that red-haired boy with the strange eyebrows. That wasn't what best friends did._

_After a round of his mother's nagging, Daiki took her one day with him to meet Taiga. It was awkward, for all three of them, Taiga tried to make a joke about Satsuki's strange-looking pink hair to break the ice, but it only made her cry. Daiki had to console both of them; first Satsuki - it was a joke, dumbass - and then Taiga who sulked under the hoop, knees gathered to his chest._

_"Girls are so hard to understand," he muttered, "I prefer basketball."_

_Daiki couldn't agree more._

_It all resolved with Satsuki watching them quietly as they played against each other, one-on-one._

_"You're both so alike," she said after they stopped for a break, "No wonder you get along so well."_

_She left after that but there was a smile on her face._

_Daiki glanced at Taiga, who was already looking at him quizzically. "We get along?" he asked, "What's she talking about, we only argue."_

_"True," Daiki retorted, "I don't want to be lumped up with a dumbass like you."_

_"You're the dumbass!"_

_"At least I don't have weird eyebrows!"_

_Daiki barely dodged the basket ball coming straight for his face, lunging at Taiga with his full strength in retaliation. Their mothers scolded them about the bruises they came back home with._

_Getting along well... Satsuki was out of her mind._

 

_~ * ~_

 

_"What do you mean you're leaving?"_

_The fan whirred and purred, the only noise breaking the cold silence between them. Taiga bit his lower lip, his forehead wrinkling as he tried to find the right words. His fingers tortured a fraying string from his sweatpants and he pouted, hard. "My dad," he muttered. He wasn't looking at Daiki. "He said he has to go back to America because of work. I'm going with him."_

_Daiki picked at the end of his comforter. "Do you have to?"_

_Taiga sighed deeply. "I don't want to leave either."_

_He would normally have reacted -- who said that I don't want you to leave, leave for all I care. But right now, things were serious and neither of them wanted a humorous interjection. Taiga was his best friend; they didn't know each other longer than a year but when he was with him, Daiki felt good. With Taiga everything felt just right. Everything._

_When..." Daiki paused, then tried again. "When are you leaving?"_

_"Middle of August. I'm starting sixth grade in America."_

_Two months. He only got two months before his best friend left for good._

_Daiki sighed and jumped off the bed. He reached for Taiga's arm. "C'mon, get up."_

_Taiga give him a look of confusion but complied, tailing after Daiki passively. "Where are we going?"_

_"To make up for the basketball matches we're missing out on because you'll be gone."_

_Daiki didn't see the face Taiga made but whatever alien tension built between them, diffused within seconds. They blew off the remnants of it with consecutive one-on-one matches, Daiki winning most of them due to speed and Taiga's competitive spirit crumbling his already short temper._

_They ended up wrestling each other and Daiki lost that one because Taiga was a tad bigger than him. His arms were pined on the ground and he couldn't move an inch under Taiga's surprising prepubertal muscle power. Taiga was grinning his triumph --probably excited that he won something for once, Daiki thought to himself bitterly._

_But then it happened. In the midst of their short, shallow breaths and Taiga's laughter, a stillness overtook the air between them. Taiga's smile fell, Daiki's twisted face relaxed and they stared at each other, long, hard, as if to imprint each other's faces in their memories forever. They were close, they were too close and Taiga's face was moving closer but it was okay, it didn't matter, it was Taiga -- everything about Taiga felt right._

_When Taiga's lips awkwardly slanted on his, Daiki's chest expanded._

_It was unlike the slobbery kisses he received from relatives during holidays, but he hadn't lived long enough to know what romance was either. It felt right though. And when Taiga pulled away, they smiled at each other and laughed to their heart's content._

_They held hands while watching the starry sky above them, sharing secrets and promises of a friendship that was going to outlive both the distance and the years apart._

 

~ * ~

 

_Taiga adjusted the strap of his duffel bag on his shoulder and Daiki watched him with a heavy feeling in his stomach. There was insufferable noise around them, people coming and going with suitcases on their tail, waiting in line for their passports to be checked and Taiga and Daiki stood in the middle of it, struggling to find words to say to each other._

_"So," Taiga started. His voice was breaking. "I guess it's time."_

_Daiki chewed on his bottom lip. The night before they stayed up until late convincing each other that this was okay, that they would still be friends, that they would continue practicing basketball until the day they had a rematch. But now, now it was time to say goodbye and Daiki's throat had never been so tight before. His vision started swimming._

_Taiga looked up at him and immediately teared up. "Don't cry," he mumbled, lips trembling, "If you cry, I'll cry and we're big boys for that."_

_Daiki wiped his eyes and nose with the sleeve of his shirt. "Shut up. I'm not okay with this, you know that."_

_"I know. I'm not either."_

_"Good, so leave me be."_

_Taiga's pout deepened but he didn't say anything else. Daiki shifted on his legs, hating the tension, hating the silence between them because it was not okay. He looked up only when he saw Taiga drop his bag on the ground. Taiga yanked the zipper open and rummaged around, his face focused and determined until it dissolved to a triumphant smirk as he found what he had been looking for._

_"Here."_

_His hand was open in front of Daiki. There was a keychain with a basketball and a basketball shoe hanging from it. Daiki blinked at it, then at Taiga. "Huh?"_

_"Take it," Taiga urged, "It's for you. A memento. To, you know, remember me sometimes."_

_As if Daiki would ever forget him._

_"I don't... I don't have anything to give back to you."_

_Taiga chuckled at the same time he sniffled. "As if I'd ever forget you, dumbass."_

_Daiki's throat closed up completely. "Shut up," was all he managed to croak out before a new round of tears arrived and Taiga hugged him tightly._

_"Taiga, baby," Taiga's mother said sweetly, interrupting their moment. She was smiling at them but with sadness in her eyes. "I'm so sorry but we have to board, honey."_

_Taiga rubbed his nose on his shirt and nodded as he took her hand. With one final glance at Daiki, he smiled, although a tad forced. "It's not the end of the world. Let's play again, okay?"_

_It was a promise._

_Daiki watched Taiga's back disappear in the sea of people, holding tight on that keychain, the piece of himself Taiga left with him, while a piece of him boarded on that plane together with his best friend._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'll try to update as soon as I possibly can ^-^


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I later figured that this trope could go on forever but I don't have the energy for such commitment. Thus I sorta weaved it in a way to give it an ending. It's not much, but it's _something_ I suppose...hehe...*sweats*
> 
> Enjoy~

When he opened his eyes, the sun had already begun to set.

Cursing under his breath, Daiki sat up and rubbed sleep out of his eye. He sought out his phone. _5:35pm_. He had one hour and twenty-five minutes before his duty started. It was the month of the night shifts at the police station which was always a pain in his ass, so he wasn't looking forward to it. 

Daiki readied himself to get up, until he felt something hard underneath his fingertips. A keychain he saw when he took a closer look, a keychain with a basketball and a basketball shoe dangling from it. A promise, a friendship that didn't last in time; a memory, fading under the cobwebs of the past. A pair of brown-red eyes capable of setting the world on fire; a spirit vibrant and alive like Daiki hadn't felt in a long, long time. 

With a sigh, Daiki opened his bedside drawer. It had been fifteen years since him and Taiga parted. It was only normal the friendship they promised would never waver wasn't there anymore. Daiki hadn't heard of Taiga ever since, he didn't even know if that boy was alive. 

Daiki didn't hold on to the past -- it was pathetic to do so. But the tinge of regret, thoughts of  _what if I had tried harder_ , combined with the nostalgia of his childhood innocence, always left a bitter taste on his tongue. He wished he hadn't found that stupid keychain again to remind him of all this. Damn his mother for nagging him to remove the clutter from his apartment. 

He put the keychain in the drawer where it belonged, and closed it shut, forgetting about it. Just like he forgot about that red-haired boy. 

~*~

Night duties were tedious at best. From endless paperwork, to on-foot patrols, to calls about supposed burglaries or alarms going off because of house-pets, night duties were a pain in the neck. Especially in the winter. Especially when Daiki had to work with people he did not get along with on the good days. 

His colleague, Wakamatsu, was one of them. 

Hot-headed and stubborn, Wakamatsu complained more often than he was satisfied, unsure about how Daiki got the ranking he had in such young age and without actually putting any effort in it. Although Daiki had managed to find ways to tune him out, dealing with him at nights was a bigger challenge than usual. 

"Oh, so you decided to show up," he mumbled as soon as Daiki stepped in the station. "Fashionably late, I suppose. To make an impression, right?"

Daiki put down his bag of necessities and flopped behind his desk without saying a single word. Wakamatsu drained all of Daiki's energy with just his voice. 

The lack of response made the man more restless than usual. Wakamatsu pushed a hand through his messy blond hair and grunted. "You can't fucking bother to reply to me now?" 

Daiki cupped his face. "I'm not in the mood to deal with your pettiness."

Wakamatsu scoffed. He picked up a stash of papers from his desk, walked over to Daiki's where he dropped them with a loud thud. "Better have mood to fill in this paperwork then."

With a sigh, Daiki booted the computer and mechanically typed down everything necessary. It was those times he felt like a robot the most; his fingers moved over an overused keyboard, every once in a while he reached for a cup of steaming coffee conveniently positioned near him, took a sip, then went back to typing. Over and over again. Until Wakamatsu called on him to go for patrol.

During patrols, it wasn't better either; hours wasted on the quiet streets, taking down notes about broken street lights, about passed out drunks on the pavement.

Monotonous. Boring. 

Though, Wakamatsu always had something to complain about and disturb the peaceful silence, he always tried to establish the briefest of conversations but Daiki never responded verbally until Wakamatsu grew sick of it and shut up as well. 

Time flew really fast and really slow at the same time during his shifts. Daiki was neither bored nor overwhelmed; he just watched the minutes tick by with an overwhelming lack of enthusiasm. 

Daiki was a sad, sad young man.

He felt it the most when he gathered his things to go back to his empty home while watching the sun rise in the horizon. The first years since he started working as a police officer, the heaviness in his stomach was overwhelming. Now, he felt nothing but hollow. 

_7:30am_ , his watch read. 

  
_Time for breakfast._

He entered the nearest grocery store he found on the way home. Luckily for him there was no other customer other than him at crack ass dawn, but he hurried with his groceries nevertheless. The amount of things he bought were always little anyway; bread, eggs, tomatoes, bananas. They barely covered the bottom of his shopping basket.

But on that day, Daiki was in the mood for some bacon too.

Walking down the isle, Daiki absently noticed another person standing in front of the meat section, but the closer the walked, the more alert he became. It was a man, a man most likely in his mid-twenties, a man that was tall and broad and examining two packages of bacon with uncertainty in his eyes. But it wasn't the guy's height or size that got Daiki's attention; it was the hair. Red. Fire red.

Splitting eyebrows creased the middle of his forehead. Daiki's heart froze before it erupted to an erratic pace. 

"Taiga?"

The guy winced at the sound of Daiki's voice and his attention shifted from the plastic packages in his hands to Daiki. There was a moment of silence stretching between them -- the guy's eyes narrowing before widening, jaw dropping slack. 

"Daiki," he breathed. "It's you right?"

His voice was deep, raspy, void of all the childishness it used to have, according to the scrapes of Daiki's memory but it was nonetheless his. Daiki tried to swallow his heart that was beating its way up his throat. "Holy shit."

Taiga put the bacon packages back on the shelf at the same time Daiki dropped his shopping basket and they moved simultaneously, as if programmed to do so, meeting each other halfway in a bear hug. Bear hug because Taiga was big, bigger than Daiki in width but not in height so, Daiki wasn't losing to him; he cradled the back of Taiga's head and pushed him hard against him while Taiga squeezed all air out of his lungs. 

Energy seeped into him, strength he had to feel in years surged through his veins and Daiki's skin was tingling. 

Then Taiga broke the hug to look at Daiki's face. His smile was positively blinding, probably mirroring the one Daiki wore. 

"You haven't changed one bit," he said, "Minus the forehead wrinkles and -- oh!" He pushed his fingers through Daiki's hair. "Is that grey hair?"

A vein popped on Daiki's temple -- the fucker was already insulting him. "Fuck you," he retorted, "You have no room to talk when your eyebrows are still fucking weird."

" _And_  your mouth still comes up with more shit than your ass! Amazing, you really are the same!"

They gave each other a long, serious stare before busting to laughter. Taiga gave him a last squeeze and with a pat on his back, he let Daiki go at once. "Man, it's been a while," he then said, "A real long while." 

Fifteen years. But Daiki wasn't counting. "What the fuck are you doing here? I thought you were in America still."

"I was!" Taiga agreed, "Until a couple of months ago. See, I finished culinary school and I'm doing a stage for a couple of months. Up until April." A chuckle. "It doesn't pay but I set some money aside for it."

Daiki pretended to know what a stage was for the sake of watching Taiga speak, to believe that he was there, that he was _really_ there, flesh and bone and real and not some fading memory Daiki's brain had hold on to desperately. Taiga had grown, as expected after fifteen years, but the fire in his eyes was the same; the warmth of his spirit, of his energy, already seeping into Daiki's pores and bringing back emotions he thought himself unable to feel.

"What about you?" Taiga then asked and it finally snapped Daiki out of his reverie. "What are you...how are things with you? I mean, I'm sure you have a lot to tell me after so many years."

Daiki felt a smile tug at his lips, but this one didn't quite make it to his eyes. "Nah, I don't have much to say. Sorry to disappoint." 

Taiga blinked at him. "Now that's impossible," he said, "But let's not talk here -- how about you come to my place? I'll make breakfast."

Although Daiki could feel his limps growing heavier from the fatigue, he took Taiga on his offer without a second of hesitation. They agreed on finishing their shopping separately and meet on the checkout, so Daiki hastily picked up whatever necessity his overactive mind could come up with at that point and headed quickly to the registers. 

Ten minutes later, Taiga found him waiting outside. He was holding five shopping bags. 

"You still eat like seventeen people, I see," Daiki commented. 

"Oi, shut up, I'm a big guy." 

"It's still a wonder where the hell all these calories go." 

Taiga lifted his shopping bags towards his chest and despite the long-sleeved woolen sweater he was wearing, a whole load of muscles rippled underneath. He was wearing a cheeky smirk when he said, "Here." 

Daiki's mouth went dry. Even him, trained in special forces for years and he didn't have such definition. "Steroids are illegal though and I'll have to arrest you." 

"Arrest me?"

"I'm a cop," he said. Taiga stopped in front of a car and put the shopping bag on the asphalt below him. Confusion written on his face and Daiki raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

"I sorta assumed you'd go pro," Taiga said. "Y'know -- basketball."

Pro. Daiki had sort of assumed the same thing for himself too. His laughter was burning with acid. "It's not good to assume."  

Taiga frowned immediately. "Did something happen? Did you get injured?"

Daiki groaned. "Same nosy fucker as always, I see."

Taiga grimaced and cursed him off but pried no more. Because Taiga was always a hot-headed idiot who spoke before he thought but he never overstepped the boundaries Daiki set for him.

The ride was filled with slow jazz music - _That's_ _the music I like to listen to in the mornings_ , Taiga explained - and his childhood friend catching up from where they left off fifteen years ago; how difficult it was to adjust to his second language in the beginning, the kids at school picking on him because of his hair, the friends he made to back him up, that one specific friend, Himuro, he grew really close with but ended up falling apart over basketball.

"He sounds like an idiot," Daiki muttered.

Taiga took a left turn. "He was the first really close friend I made after leaving Japan," he said, "Maybe I sort of clung too much on him and suffocated him."

  
"You never suffocate anybody, the fuck?" 

A smile formed on Taiga's lips and he chanced a glance at Daiki. "I never clicked with anyone the same way I did with you," he murmured, "After you my expectations for friendship were too high. You just had to be an asshole about that too."

"As if it's my fucking fault, shithead."

"Whose is it?"

Daiki chose to hold on to his silence instead, chose to withhold that it was how the situation developed for him too. Other than Satsuki, all the friends he made in middle school, all the people he let in his heart and shared his love for basketball with drifted away when his love for the sport died.

Isolating himself had been the best option at the time.

"It really sucked when you left," he muttered in the end. It summed everything up.

Taiga nodded. "It really did." Then he smiled, "But now we have all the time in the world. Besides, there's internet too and not unnecessarily expensive international phone calls. Or weird timezones."

Daiki felt himself smile too. A true one, unlike the others. "First you feed me though," he said, "I'm not putting up with you otherwise."

"Oh, fuck you."

They bickered back and forth until the car came to stop in front of an apartment complex and with their grocery bags in hand, they continued arguing all the way to Taiga's apartment. It was a rather big apartment, so was the living room Daii stepped in, but nonetheless empty sans the essentials -- a table, a couch and a TV.  

Daiki helped him put all the groceries in their rightful places and prepare for the breakfast. Unlike the rest of the house Daiki saw, Taiga's kitchen was fully equipped with all means of latest cooking technology. Daiki made fun of him for that, just like the old days. Taiga would lose his insults in Japanese and reverted to English, only to sound stupider than he actually was.

It was a pattern Daiki caught while they idly talked over cooking breakfast too; Taiga stalled on some sentences, scrunched his nose up until he found the right word and his face relaxed again.

"Man, you really suck at Japanese," Daiki said after Taiga mispronounced yet another word, "Isn't it your first language?"

"Shut up, I'm working on it okay?"

"How pretentious; you went for a while to a foreign country and came back a diva with an accent."

"You're the diva between the two of us, sweetie."

Daiki made a face. "Don't fucking call me that."

It was when Taiga flashed his notorious toothy grin that Daiki realized he fucked up. "Call you what?" he cooed, "Sweetie?"

"I'll shove your fucking face in the pan until your stupid eyebrows fry off," Daiki gritted.

"No need to get shy, sugar plump!"

Daiki tightened his fingers around a wooden spatula and a shaky breath went past his nose. Taiga could do this to him; barge in his life fifteen years late and elicit a temper Daiki thought had died a long time ago. As if nothing ever changed -- as if they never parted. Nothing felt awkward or out of the ordinary; he was in Taiga's space, in his house for the first time, surrounded by his things, he was cooking sunny side ups in a pan while catering to some bacon on another, while Taiga chopped on some vegetables and herbs and chatted away the silence Daiki was so used to.

He had never felt like he belonged more in a place than right there at that moment.

Daiki was jostled out of his thoughts by an unstoppable force and he wobbled on his feet when Taiga shoved him away from the eggs. He immediately switched off the heat, removing the fuming pan from it. "You're burning them, dumbass," he barked, "Don't have your head in the clouds when you're cooking!"

Daiki regarded him, his twisted features, the lips that moved in a lecture he wasn't paying attention to. His chest expanded, his lungs filled with air, with water, with emotions he buried within him throughout the years -- his friend, his best friend was there, next to him again.

"I really fuckin' missed you," he breathed.

Taiga's face softened. Then his cheeks caught on fire, the same time Daiki's did too. "I-I really did too," he stammered, "But don't burn down my house because of it."

He blinked and the spell broke. The he chuckled. "Shut up, stupid."

The heart he had long forgotten about was thrashing against his chest once again.

~ * ~

"You've been in an awfully good mood lately." Wakamatsu eyed him warily as he placed Daiki's requested coffee on his desk. "You've been getting laid? Tell me it's not that 'cause I can't believe you of all people got a girlfriend."

Daiki scoffed. "Do you ever mind your own business?"

"Can't I be curious? Damn."

Daiki picked up his coffee and ignored Wakamatsu's inconsequential grumbling. The screen of his phone lit up the moment he took his first sip and the world lit up along with it.

_You free Sunday morning? It's my day off._

He had a night duty that day, but there was no way he was passing up an opportunity to see Taiga again. His fingers quickly danced over the keyboard. _Eager, aren't we?_

_If it's you, sweet cheeks._

Daiki rolled his eyes and snorted. _Those_ _just keep getting worse and worse._

His phone buzzed back seconds later. _Good. Now tell me if you're free I got places to be, bitch._

"Oh, God," he heard Wakamatsu exclaim, "You're getting laid! Fuck!"

Daiki flipped him off before typing away his reply to Taiga. _Maji first?_

_Maji first_ , was Taiga's last message. The conversation ended there.

It had been about a month since Daiki reunited with his childhood friend and things were, the same. The doubt in Daiki's mind that their connection faded throughout the years without any contact, was quickly abated by how same everything had stayed. Still kids in grown men bodies, their banters, their comebacks, Taiga's uncontrollable temper and appetite, their laughs -- they all stayed the same. As if a day hadn't pass since the day they got separated.

Daiki had forgotten how vibrant Taiga was. He had forgotten the aftertaste of the fire in his eyes, the rawness of his laughter, the power of his presence. He shone bright, it was hard to look at him. He was the same thick, stubborn dumbass Daiki called Bakagami but he was, at the same time, so good for Daiki.

It was showing too; Satsuki, his mom, even that thick-skulled Wakamatsu had seen the difference in his mood. But the biggest difference was the one Daiki felt in his heart -- it was beating again, strong and fast and _alive_. Getting out of bed in the mornings stopped being difficult.

When Daiki arrived at Maji burger after his night shift, Taiga was already seated and going through his umpteenth burger. The three teriyaki burgers Daiki had asked (demanded) were resting untouched by his side of the table.

Daiki flopped on the free seat, rubbing sleep out of his eye. "Did it have to be so early?" he muttered, "I told you I had the night duty."

Taiga shrugged. "I want to do a lot of things."

"Selfish bastard."

"Shut up and eat."

Daiki crumbled the wrap of his burger and threw it directly in Taiga's face. He stared out of the window as he ate. The snow still hadn't melt off completely, even in the beginning of March.

Taiga had not been kidding when he said he wanted to do a lot of things; from the mall to shop for shoes, to the repair store for his broken laptop, Taiga dragged him around the entire city on foot until Daiki's legs were giving out.

"Just one more stop," Taiga promised when Daiki begged him to just go home already.

It took them a while to get to their destination but halfway, Daiki began recognizing his surroundings. He turned to Taiga, eyebrows raised, "Our old neighborhood? Seriously?"

Taiga shrugged, a coy smile on his lips. "What, I wanna see how it is after fifteen years!"

"It's not going to be any different, idiot."

"You don't know that!" 

Daiki rolled his eyes but followed Taiga nevertheless. He hadn't been in that place for years. A few years after Taiga moved away, Daiki and his family chose to live in the city. Daiki never opposed to the move; with Taiga gone, he didn't have anything to do in that neighborhood. He had no friends, no enemies, no unresolved attachment to the place. The court they played street basketball at was most of the times empty and the times Daiki occupied it, he was by himself. Satsuki only watched from the sides.

He had zero lingering attachment to the place. But with Taiga next to him, the burden of nostalgia weighted heavy in his chest as soon as Taiga stopped in front of the court they used to play.

The place was empty and forgotten, the ropes of the net rotten and broken apart by time and rain, the mat underneath paling compared to the bright green it used to be. Taiga put his fingers in between the wired fence and when Daiki looked at him, his chest swelled at the genuine joy glimmering in Taiga's eyes.

"Man," he sighed, "It's been so long."

"It really has."

"I thought I'd forgotten, y'know, everything that has happened in this court..." Taiga trailed off, the edges of his mouth twitching. "But when I look at this old, rusty place, it all comes back to me."

"Yeah."

Taiga turned to him. He was searching in Daiki's eyes, looking for _something_ , anything to answer the burning question Daiki could see in his.

"Do you remember our promise?"

Daiki's chest constricted. He looked away. "That we'll be friends forever?" he muttered, even though they both knew it was only an act.

"That we'll play again."

"I don't..." Daiki swallowed. "I don't play anymore."

He heard Taiga chuckle and looked up, but Taiga wasn't looking at him. "I sorta knew already," he said, "But you didn't want to talk about it, so I didn't ask."

"But you're asking now," Daiki said. It wasn't a question.

"I'm not asking if you don't want to tell me. But I can't help but wonder because..." He turned to Daiki and his eyebrows marred over his nose. "You really loved basketball."

"Yeah, things change, man," Daiki said quickly, "I fell out of love with it I guess. I was too good for iy."

"Are you being your usual prick self? The fuck you mean _I was too good for it?_ "

"Shut the fuck up, stupid," Daiki grunted, "I mean it; when I went to middle school, I was a starter right off the bat and it was fun, y'know, I got to play against some sick players and everything but then..." He clenched his fingers to a fist and stared pointently at his feet. "Then we started winning too much, and the team, the friends I made on the team, we fell apart and everyone just...gave up on playing against us, against _me_ because I was too good. It kinda grew old, I guess? Boring too. So I gave it up."

Daiki gritted his teeth. He thought of Kuroko and Midorima and Akashi, even that dumbass Kise and that freak Murasakibara and seethed. "So yeah. Basketball didn't end up very well for me."

Taiga was quiet for a long time. Daiki wanted to look at him, to see what was on his face and how he took the words which spilled out of his mouth, the summary of the big fall out he had during and after middle school, but he wouldn't move.

Then Taiga sighed and he finally looked up. There was no pity in the red of his eyes, only compassion and annoyance.

"I woulda punched them if I could," Taiga muttered, "What kinda bitch ass excuse is this? You're too strong? That's the excuse? It's better to play against stronger opponents, damn it!"

Daiki couldn't help himself but chuckle. "Is punching people your first reaction to everything?" 

"Shut up," Taiga muttered, "I woulda punched them because they made you like this." 

"They made me like this?" Daiki was scowling now. "The fuck you mean  _they made me_   _like this_?! I grew up, Taiga! There's no way I'd be the same person as before!"

"Of course I don't care about that!" Taiga shouted back. He slammed his fist on the wired fence and it shook violently, similarly to how Taiga's shoulder shook. "You may be short-tempered and a jerk on the good days," he said. "But you're my fucking friend and it's fine -- I'll take that. Though if you think I can sit around completely chill about the fact that your eyes are dead because of whatever fucking happened back then, then, well, you're fucking wrong!"  

Daiki was bewildered. For someone who as unobservant and tactless as Taiga, he sure as hell had hit the nail on the head. 

"You're sad," Taiga said and his voice was low but quivering. He scrunched his eyes closed and hissed, "I hate it."

Daiki looked away. There were a lot of things playing on his tongue, burning to come out but he kept them in. He gave time to Taiga to collect himself until his labored huffing even out to normal breaths again. 

"You're still my friend," Taiga spoke again. "And I'll take you how ever you are. But I'll shake and shatter that sadness in you, even if it's just for one second, just fucking wait." 

Daiki's mouth titled up and something bloomed in his chest. He reached for his shirt and clutched it, right in the middle of his collar bones. Then he snorted, but it had no true malice in it. 

"Shut up,  _stupid_."

~ * ~

"Taiga, seriously."

Taiga grinned at him, broad and wide as he twirled a basket ball on his index finger. "I mean, I told you I haven't played in ages and I miss it."

Daiki stood in the middle of the court they used to play as children wearing his workout clothes, thinking that Taiga had only wanted to join him in his morning run but it was now evident that he had been tricked. He wasn't sure whether to be angry or not or who should he be angry at. Taiga? Himself for falling for it? The latter was more probable; Taiga had been issuing his desire to play basketball for days now.

_The weather is so nicer now_ or _, I want to move my body a bit_ or, _I've missed basketball_. The signs had been blatant.

"I'm not playing," Daiki said quickly. The mere idea of it made his stomach turn. 

Taiga shrugged. "But you can watch right?" he asked. "You're always watching games on your phone anyway."

Daiki clenched his teeth. He put his headphones back on and flopped on the out-of-bounds area. "Do whatever you want."

He leaned back on the fence and pretended he didn't hear Taiga dribbling the ball he brought along around. Yet, after he took in all of nature's beauty around him, his traitorous gaze shifted to the figure running around the court. He saw Taiga the moment he made a shot but it hit on the rim of the hoop and bounced away. 

Since it was coming his way, Daiki got to his feet and picked it up. He rolled it around in his hands, marveled at the familiar roughness of it, it's weightlessness despite its size. He caught Taiga's expectant gaze and smirked. "You still can't fucking shoot."

Taiga sneered, "Yes I can, you just happened to see me the _only_ time I missed."

Daiki caught the ball with both hands, then without looking away from Taiga's burning gaze, he threw the ball towards the hoop. Taiga followed its course, his mouth dropping when it made it in. His head snapped back towards Daiki. "How the fuck did you do that?" 

"I told you I was good," Daiki said with a shrug.

"Yo, do it again so I know it's no fluke." 

With a roll of his eyes, Daiki picked up the ball and demonstrated his notorious formless shoot from various angles. Taiga's jaw threatened to unhinge until it turned to the shittiest grin Daiki had seen on him before. 

"You're so fucking amazing," he said. Then, he pushed both hands through his hair and scowled. "I won't fucking lose though."

There was fire in his eyes, and every word said he meant. Something in Daiki's chest bloomed and, unable to deal with it, he threw the ball at Taiga's face and stormed off. 

But only he knew how alive his heart was in the prison of his chest. 

~ * ~

Taiga never pressured him but slowly, Daiki introduced himself to the sport again. 

It was small things in the beginning; shooting matches against Taiga, ball handling competitions or three-pointer shoot offs but they progressively grew longer and more  _basketball_  than  _shooting_ , until Daiki's muscles and soul were burning from intensity. 

Daiki had forgotten; he had forgotten how it felt to play, to  _really_  play -- to face off against an opponent that never gave up, an opponent that stared in his eyes with awe but vehemence, an opponent who roared in frustration and came after him when Daiki broke past him instead of moping on the floor in defeat. 

He had forgotten how it felt to play against Taiga; how, in that shitty old court, they took each other up on every challenge until their mothers came to look for them. But what his mind had let go, his body brought back fairly quick; Taiga's rhythm, his steps, his breathing -- all were engraved in Daiki's memory since the time they had been kids but the shadow of his sadness had covered it all up. Though Taiga was bigger now, stronger, faster and more mature, his style hadn't changed one bit. Exactly like Taiga himself. 

The months he spent with Taiga were the happiest he had been in years, and it only got better as soon as they lived up to the promise they made fifteen years ago.

They were at Maji, inhaling their burgers instead of chewing after a series of one-on-ones, when Taiga broke the news to him. 

"I'm leaving in a couple of days." 

Daiki's blood ran cold and he stopped mid-chew. Questions built up on his tongue, especially at Taiga's nonchalance, but his throat was suddenly too tight to speak. 

"I got a job interview in Tokyo," Taiga then continued, "So I'll be leaving for like, three-four days." 

Daiki put down his teriyaki burger and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just say so beforehand, you stupid fucking idiot," he said shakily. 

"Huh?"

"I thought you were leaving for America again."

"What? No! The hell? I'm looking for a job here in Japan!" Taiga explained. "I mean, I finished the stage, so I have to get working again but there's nothing for me in America currently." He paused, pressing his lips together. "Plus,  _you're_  here, so..." 

At that, Daiki's stomach filled with butterflies. He looked away. "Don't...stay here because of me." 

"Sh-Shut up, it's nothing romantic like that," Taiga muttered through clenched teeth, "I've always wanted to come back to Japan ever since the day I left. I like it here. You being here only makes it _better_."

Daiki's face was hot. Too hot. When his eyes darted at Taiga, the man was in a similar state and chewing his food with unnecessary zeal. "Just do whatever you want," Daiki said in the end, "I'm not going anywhere anyway."

He saw Taiga's hand moving slowly on the table, crossing crumbled wraps and napkins until fingers landed on top of Daiki's. Taiga's hand was bigger than his, rough, calloused and warm. So warm. He wasn't meeting Daiki's eyes when he said, "I'm not going anywhere either."

Daiki smiled at the forgotten burger in front of him. "Good then."

The fingers around his tightened. "Good," Taiga agreed. 

He, too, was hiding a smile. 

_Good._

~ * ~

By the end of the summer, Taiga was there when Daiki woke up too.

It was like the days they had been children -- Daiki spending the night to Taiga's house or Taiga spending the night at Daiki's house, talking about everything until the wee hours of the morning, with the only difference that Daiki had the key to Taiga's place and Taiga had the key to Daiki's place. With Taiga not migrating to Tokyo or anywhere else in the world for a job, it was only the natural flow of things.

Daiki was as glad to have him around as he had been when they had been children. Taiga was the biggest grump in the mornings, barely able to do a single thing that wasn't cooking but just like everything else between them, the arrangement worked out because Daiki was lazy to cook breakfast but was okay doing the cleaning. 

It was like a dream to walk in his house after night duty and see a bowl of breakfast waiting for him on the counter. The insulting note Taiga always left next to it was, in its way, a comedic intervention to the boring hours he had spent with Wakamatsu.

Getting out of bed wasn't a problem anymore.  

One of the mornings, Daiki woke up to the whirring of his newly-bought aircon, only to see Taiga was sitting at the edge of Daiki's bed. He was still wearing his pajamas but he had his back turned to Daiki. 

Daiki stirred, drawing a deep breath before letting it go. "What are you doing?" he asked. 

Taiga immediately shifted, half turning his body but it was enough for Daiki to see the familiar keychain dangling from his fingers. A basket ball and a basketball shoe. Daiki was about to give Taiga a tongue-lashing about going through his things like the nosy fucker he was but something in Taiga's face had him waiting instead. 

"You kept it," Taiga said quietly. His voice was full of emotion. 

Daiki swallowed, playing off the butterflies in his stomach with a shrug. "It just got lost in my shit, I guess."

"It's in your bedside cabinet." 

Daiki pushed his face in his pillow to hide his blush. "Your point?"

Taiga chuckled softly. He rolled the basket ball between his thumb and index finger and said, "Nothing." There was a moment of silence which felt like ages before Taiga spoke again. "I sure was a sentimental motherfucker back then," he said, "Thinking that you wouldn't forget me because of a stupid keychain." 

"It wasn't stupid," Daiki corrected him. He reached out for Taiga's fingers, clutching them in his together with the keychain. "Though," he added, "I wouldn't forget you, keychain or no."

Taiga cradled Daiki's hand between his and let go of a long sigh. "Same goes for me. You were my best friend. You still are."

Daiki smiled through the burn of his cheeks. "You can have it back, if you want. I don't need it anymore." 

"Nah, it's yours now." 

"Fuck, and here I thought I could finally get rid of it." Daiki smirked when he added, "If I can't get rid of a stupid keychain, I won't be able to get rid of your stupid ass either." 

Taiga snorted as he released Daiki's hand. He wrapped his fingers around Daiki's wrist instead, bringing it close to Daiki's face to smack him with it. When Daiki struggled, Taiga hit him harder. 

"Quit it, you idiot!"

"That's what you get!" Taiga managed through laughter, "For being fuckin' rude!"

"I'm just - hmf - honest!"

They argued on the line between rude and honest until Taiga got enough of slapping Daiki with his own hand and Daiki shoving his foot in Taiga's side to shake him off. They only stopped because Taiga's stomach rumbled loud enough to resemble a tiger's roar.

Taiga took it upon himself to make breakfast and he left Daiki alone in his bed. The keychain jingled as he let it hang above his face. He regarded it for a long time, waiting for the pain in his chest to blossom but it never did. 

He put it back in the bedside cabinet and closed it shut, finally letting go. 

~ * ~

The stars were at their brightest on the sky seen from the court in their old neighborhood. 

Daiki's throat was aching, his chest still running after his lost breath. He didn't realize when the sun had set until he fell on the fading green floor, muscles screaming from the exertion, and stars gleaming above his head. 

Next to him, Taiga had his arm thrown over his face as he panted. He wasn't looking at the stars Daiki did, but his hand was on top of Daiki's, fingers loosely entwined. His hands were sweaty, but they were both sweating bullets so there was no room to complain about it. Not that Daiki wanted to either. 

"Do you remember?" Taiga said suddenly, "The last time we were under the stars like this?"

Daiki turned his head towards Taiga, only to see that the man was already staring at him. "Back when we were kids, you mean."

Taiga nodded as his lips quirked upwards. "I kissed you...you remember that?"

"You were a smooth fucker even back then," Daiki muttered while rolling his eyes. "You just had to go for it when we were sweaty and gross."

"It felt the most right at that time though." Then he added, with a chuckle, "I was leaving too, so I had nothing to lose."

Daiki couldn't deny it but didn't want to admit it either. He let go of a sigh. "Why are you bringing it up?" he asked. "You want to do it again?"

"I can?"

Taiga's voice had never sounded more hopeful; his eyes had never been more excited. Daiki swallowed. "You didn't ask last time." 

A warm hand found its way to his face as Taiga rolled over, hovering above him. The air grew motionless again, thick and heavy and, like ten years ago, Daiki's heart threatened to jump out of his mouth in its excitement. Taiga's breath fawned over his lips until Taiga closed his eyes.

When they kissed this time, it wasn't awkward; it wasn't only one -- two, three, ten; until Daiki could taste Taiga on his tongue.

When they pulled away this time, they didn't laugh but Taiga was smiling on Daiki's skin. "Well," he said, voice raspier than before. "This one was much better. You must have practiced or something."

Daiki snorted. "I'm not ten anymore."

"You definitely aren't. And this is not a goodbye kiss either," Taiga added sternly. His thumb was tracing the outline of Daiki's lips. "Now I can do it again when I want to."

Daiki crumbled Taiga's shirt in his palm as he smirked. "Aren't you cocky? As if I ever let you do it again."

"As if you _won't_ , shithead."

"Shut up, you know shit about what I'll do and what I won't."

Taiga sat up and offered Daiki his hand, to help him up. "Well," he said, "We got all the time in the world as of now, so I'll figure it out, right?"

Daiki didn't hesitate to take that hand but didn't let go once he, too, was on his feet. Taiga didn't either. 

_We got all the time in the world._

His words hung between them on the way to Daiki's house, light despite their finality, comforting in their promise. Daiki reached for his pocket, squeezing that old keychain he started carrying with him since Taiga found it. The rusty metal dug in his palm. 

They made the best out of their childhood promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta-ed. Thanks for reading ^-^


End file.
